The present invention is a general-purpose shovel which can be used for lifting loads with great ease and efficiency, without causing back strain.
Shoveling loads, such as earth or snow, is laborious and tedious. Shoveling also strains the back, and can aggravate a pre-existing back condition. With most shovels of the prior art, the user must bend over, while grasping the shovel body near the blade, in order to lift the load. The repeated bending and lifting places great forces on the vertebrae. Moreover, if the user attempts to do less bending, such as by gripping the shovel body at a point farther from the shovel blade, then the moment arm of the load is increased, and the corresponding strain on the back is even greater.
There have been various attempts, in the prior art, to provide shovels having auxiliary handles which could eliminate the discomfort and inconvenience of bending over. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,521,441 shows a snow shovel having an auxiliary handle, the auxiliary handle being attached to a cord affixed to the shovel blade. The shovel blade can be lifted, in most cases, while the user remains in a standing position.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 781,772 and 1,693,472 both show snow shovels having auxiliary handles near the midpoint of the shovel bodies. In both of these patents, the auxiliary handle generally resembles a standard shovel handle, and is securely affixed to the shovel body.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,430,802 shows still another auxiliary hand grip for shovels. Other patents showing a lifting structure for a shovel include U.S. Pat. No. Des. 269,936 and Des. 270,612.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,182 discloses a mechanical shovel which also does not require the user to bend over. The shovel includes a harness which fits around the user. However, this shovel is a powered tool; in the embodiment shown, the apparatus is powered pneumatically.
The present invention is a shovel which is much more easily operated than any of the shovels in the known prior art. It is not a powered tool, but is operated by hand. By distributing the weight of the shovel and the load in a novel way, the present invention enables the user to manipulate heavy loads, for relatively long periods of time, without suffering pain in the back. The shovel of the present invention may also be used by persons who already suffer from a bad back condition, as the shovel is not likely to aggravate such a condition.